Saturday, May 15, 2010

Back in my homeschool high school years I became familiar with the name Greg Wilbur through George Grant's "Gileskirk" curriculum. Occasionally Greg, who also teaches at Franklin Classical School, would lecture when Dr. Grant was away. I also read his biography of Bach (recommended, by the way). I did not know until recently that he also serves as the Director of Music at Parish Presbyterian Church in the Franklin, TN area. Over the past few years he has written or adapted tunes and texts to various psalms and hymns of bygone eras for congregational use at Parish. 16 of these psalms and hymns have been compiled into a CD that was just published by Ligonier Ministries, titled "My Cry Ascends". On the CD artists including Michael Card, Nathan Clark George, Wes King, and Steve Green perform the arrangements beautifully. I highly recommend purchasing the CD as excellent listening material, and I have also really enjoyed singing them at home and with others in small gatherings. Perhaps eventually some of these settings will be used in the worship at WPC...

To purchase lead sheets, or read more about Greg and his work, go HERE.

On Greg's website, I would particularly commend to you the section on Musical Philosophy, a portion of which I will quote below:

CREDOI believe that beauty is an attribute of God and is therefore a theological issue.I believe that beauty and excellence are objective and that the Bible provides the standard for what is beautiful and excellent.I believe that since there is a biblical objective standard for what is beautiful and excellent that this should apply especially in areas of worship.I believe that an understanding of beauty enables a greater understanding of the nature and character of God.I believe that the arts are worldview incarnate.I believe that goodness, truth, and beauty are Trinitarian concepts and that each element requires the relationship of the other two for complete understanding.I believe that the saints need to know how to read music and how to sing for the sake of the worship of God.I believe that we should know, respect, and utilize the arts of the past as we continue to create new art that is historically informed but also Biblically creative.I believe that originality is not a Biblical notion.I believe that we weaken our understanding of art when we try to apply a narrative structure on all works instead of trying to understand music as music, painting as painting, etc.I believe Philippians 4:8 provides a Biblical pattern by which to critique our thoughts and actions as well as our affections.I believe that the Church abdicated its rightful place as the leader of culture.I believe that the Church no longer knows how to train and equip artists because we have adopted a secular view of the arts.

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About Me

About this Blog

Musica is a blog written by Jonathan Berkompas dedicated to the subject of music. For 15+ years Jonathan has been a student of music and is dedicated to employing the art for the service of the kingdom of Christ and the glory of His name. Jonathan plays piano and guitar, and assists in leading the music during worship at his church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, as well as accompanying and singing in the seasonal choir.